Surprise!!

John completely surprised me with a trip to California and Disneyland for our anniversary. A couple of things about this:

1. John plotted for months with my parents to make this a surprise. I had no idea.
2. I love my guy for lots of reasons. But one of them is that he doesn't have to go to his favorite place to have a great time. Disneyland would not be his vacation of top choice but he chose it for me.

We went paddleboarding the first day we were there and it was so fun.

 And then Disneyland. Just the two of us. So. Much. Fun.

 This was Walt Disney's car of choice. This is what he would drive around in every morning to make sure the park was ready for visitors. It also happens to be a fire engine, which was exciting for John, because just a couple of days after we returned from California he heard that he had been selected to join the next training class to become a Portland firefighter!!

God has opened up this door for him/us and we are so thankful. We want to remember His goodness to us in this. And I never want to forget the precious gift He gave us of getting away to celebrate, just John and me.

12 Years & What Success Is

12 years ago was a big day. The 6 months leading up to this day was consumed with planning and preparing and making sure that everything was as it should be.

Today, 12 years later, we are recovering from the closest thing to an all-nighter that we've pulled since college, because we were working on the finishing touches to a job interview that might be our next great adventure.

My recovery looks a lot like leaning over a toilet and throwing up with a migraine and then crashing hard into bed until the throbbing goes away. Your recovery will come later, after your interview tomorrow. This evening I heard you having a heart to heart with our 4 little wonders and this is what it sounded like:

"Who remembers what we talked about last time? About the pyramid?"
Bryant: "I do! It's the pyramid of success!"

"Yep. Right now we're going to talk about what success is. Some people see success as having a nice car or a big house or a lot of things that they can play with. Real success is when you have peace in your heart because you have worked as hard as you can at the thing in front of you to do, and you can leave the rest up to God. Because He will take care of you."

So, here we are. 12 years into the biggest thing in front of us that we could ever do. We've had to work real hard at it, if we are being honest. But we have both worked as hard as we can at it and God has taken care of us.

I am looking forward to the years ahead, John, as I continue to follow your lead in working hard at what is before us, trusting God to provide along the way. I find great joy in seeing who you are, the man I picked to be mine forever. I am so glad to be yours.